Page 57 of Ruin

In a blink, half of the mercs left standing zeroed in on the ceiling.

Ruin’s blood turned to ice.

Feeling as though he was moving against the gravity of a collapsing star, he swung his gun toward the nearest and activated the trigger.

But he was too slow.

A streak of energy left the male’s gun and hit the ceiling a fraction of a second before Ruin could fire.

Terror unlike anything he’d ever felt coursed through him. Had Lira been hit? Was she hurt?

Pulse throbbing in his ears, he opened his mouth to bellow her name, but before he could, the ceiling exploded outward in a shower of debris.

Beep burst through the opening, wings a blur, optics glowing an ominous red.

It launched itself at the Onyx Corp mercenaries in a whirlwind of metallic limbs and razor-sharp appendages. Screams filled the hallway. Blood painted the walls, the expensive wooden floor, and the ceiling in a gruesome tableau. Limbs were severed, heads went flying, and bodies were eviscerated with a precision and brutality that was both awe-inspiring and horrifying.

“Bird!”

“I’m okay!” she yelled back. “It didn’t hit me.”

The relief he felt was so profound, his knees damn near buckled.

Around him, silence abruptly fell, save for the dripping of blood. His ears rang with the cessation of noise. Peering around, he took in the destruction. Pieces of bodies were… everywhere. Blood spray painted every surface.

And standing in the midst of it all stood Beep.

A grim kind of satisfaction settling in his chest. He didn’t give a fuck that these beings had just been doing their jobs. They’d shot at his female. His mate. And for that, they’d had to die.

“Beep, make sure there’re no more comin’,” he commanded.

The bot took off and was back in under a minute. “Ssssp tut!”

“That means it’s all clear,” Lira translated from above.

How the fuck she understood that was entirely beyond him, but he trusted her. Satisfied all the threats had been neutralized, he raised his arms.

“You can come down now, my love.”

Her pale face appeared above him briefly before being replaced by her feet. He caught her effortlessly when she jumped down, but made no move to set her on her feet. Instead, he hugged her tightly and buried his face in her hair.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him back for a long moment, then pulled back just far enough to kiss him, quickly but fiercely.

“How badly are you hurt?” she demanded, twisting to try to see his arm.

“I’m fine. Areyouhurt?”

“Not even a bruise. Beep kept me safe.”

“Good.” After stealing another kiss, he set her on her feet.

As soon as he did, she gasped, “Liar! You’ve been shot.”

“Mm?” He followed her wide-eyed gaze to the bleeding hole in his arm. He’d forgotten about it in the wake of thinking she’d been shot. “Eh. Only once. Hush got hit twice.”

She thoroughly checked his arm over, then circled him, alternating between sounds of sympathy and anger. Ruin stood still for her inspection, feeling an odd mix of amused, loved, and slightly ridiculous.

“Gods, Ruin. It goes straight through your arm! Do you have any bandages?”

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